Sound Advice

Power pop, as anyone who lived through the
'80s knows, isn't necessarily about fine songcraft. It's about guilty
pleasures. Like "My Sharona," or anything Cheap Trick did. So when it
came to cementing their power-pop (and supergroup) pedigree, guitarist
James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins), bassist/guitarist Adam Schlesinger
(Fountains of Wayne) and Taylor Hanson (you know who) got Cheap Trick
drummer Bun E. Carlos to join the band. On its debut album, Tinted
Windows provides a crochet factory full of hooks, held together with
the kinds of verses you don't want to analyze too closely — not
only because you'll notice their thinness, but because you'll spoil the
fun. And tunes like "Kind of a Girl" or "Doncha Wanna" are nothing if
not fun. This is the kind of band that could do justice to the Archies'
"Dizzy." Remember, guilty pleasures. Nobody has to know. Purchase the CD: —Lynne Margolis

Peaches

I Feel Cream

XL

Sounds like: A club where folks are
fucking in the corners

Short take: Beats finally overpower
bawdiness

Most laypeople who know sexually charged
Canadian electroclash princess Peaches are familiar with "Sucking on my
Titties." Yet something after the orgy lasted from "Fuck the Pain Away"
to the lyrical orgasm on 2006's Impeach My Bush: The beats took
over. I Feel Cream shows dedication to soundboard dominance
unparalleled in Peaches' career. With help from Belgian super-DJs in
Soulwax, she drops a soulful, Motown-flavored dance sound on "Talk to
Me." The party continues with disco-derived "I Feel Cream," its debt to
Donna Summer buried in electro buzz. The Latin freestyle sentimentality
of "Lose You" is surprising, but the sexuality is understated. She
rhymes "Show Stopper" with "panty dropper" and fills "Trick or Treat"
with a taste for "raw meat," but the basslines provide the steadiest
throbbing. Purchase the CD: — Jason Notte

Ben Folds Presents

University A Cappella

Epic

Sounds like: A love letter to Andy
Bernard

Short take: A crappolla

Ben Folds has officially lost his mind. As
strange as collaborating with William Shatner may have seemed earlier
in the decade, Folds' new album is nothing short of "Beam me up Scotty"
bat-shit crazy. Folds appears to be intoxicated with college a cappella
groups, which has led the Gen X piano-man to produce a new album
featuring no fewer than 15 college outfits interpreting tunes from
Folds' own catalog. If you've been tortured by Barbershop Quartet
Nation, A Cappella is your worst nightmare, from the somber
"Brick" by the Ohio University Leading Tones to the beat-box driven
"Not the Same" by Greensboro, N.C.'s Spartones. Even sadder, Folds
joins in on the a cappella action with a vocally layered and
forgettable performance of "Effington" (from last year's Way to
Normal CD). Even Folds' staunchest fans should beware. Purchase the CD: — John Benson